The International Schools Review Forum

Hi. I'm new to the forum and to international teaching.
My dilemma: after 22 years of teaching Social Studies in California public schools, I'm ready to teach overseas. My wife--who is bright and capable--is willing to teach ESL or use her private college counseling experience to become a college counselor at a school. My 14-year-old son would also go with us.
We seem to have done everything right: signed up with SA, TIE, and have an extensive database of international schools. We started looking last November. We just won't go anywhere dangerous (eg ME). I've Skyped with 6 schools, but to no avail.
I've read this forum and want to know:
1-Am I too late for this year?
2-How to define Tier 1, 2, and 3 schools? Is there a formal definition anywhere?
3-Any ideas?

Thanks.

Hi and welcome!

1. you are not too late for this year, but most of the jobs at the upper level schools will have been filled by now.

2. Definitions vary. An upper level school in one country might only be a mid-level school in another, despite the same or higher salary and benefits. Take it with a grain of salt. Generally, not for profit schools are better than for profit schools, with some exceptions.

3. You are going about it bass ackwards. Your WIFE should be out hunting for the college counseling jobs. Quite honestly I believe she is more marketable than you given her years of experience with college counselling and the fact that you are coming from California, which receives bucket loads of international student applications each year. She has special insight to give from a college perspective. You would be the spouse they would slot in along with her.

She should start looking, quite honestly, in September and should have a list of target schools already prepared. This will help narrow focus. She might want to contact the schools she is targeting in early September and market herself for the upcoming year. As you realize, hiring timelines are VERY different in international education than in domestic education.

Good luck with the hunt - and keep watching and see if there are any jobs out there now for her at decent schools!

Just my two halalas,

shad

shadowjack--
thanks for your comments.
To clarify, my wife's counseling experience is limited to the private sector. She does not have any certificates or school experience. She works for a college counseling firm.

We would be more than happy to land at a tier 2 or 3 school in a good city/country. That would not be a problem.

thanks again for your post

Degree or not, there would be schools (esp. in Asia) that would be interested in your wife with the college counseling. Also in Asia, esp. in China and Korea, she could probably do quite well as a private college counselor. Families are very serious about their kids getting perfect SAT scores and getting into the Ivies. I know a couple of school counselors that left and struck out on their own as independent college counselors and did very well.